Jillette Johnson is the rare artist who needs little sonic accompaniment to make an indelible impact. Produced by Dave Cobb (the Grammy Award-winner known for his work with Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson), Johnson's sophomore album All I Ever See in You Is Me offers up sparsely orchestrated songs centering on her spirited piano work and ever-changing vocal texture, an instrument that's irresistibly powerful whether she's belting out a refrain or whispering a hushed melody.

Mavis Staples has again joined forces with songwriter-producer Jeff Tweedy for a new album entitled If All I Was Was Black, out this November 17th. The history Mavis recalls from her early years touring with her family as The Staple Singers, the prejudice, ugliness and danger, well it’s all still here. In response, the singer has delivered If All I Was Was Black, ten songs about contemporary America today, a present day filled with ghosts of the past. "Nothing has changed," Mavis remarked in early August, just days before neo-Nazis marched with swastika flags in Charlottesville, Virginia, as a young woman was murdered. "We are still in it.”

"If All I Was Was Black" is the sixteenth studio album by Mavis Staples. The album was written and produced by Jeff Tweedy, who also features on the fourth track. Staples said about the album "(It) bring us all together as a people. That's what I hope to do. You can't stop me. You can't break me. I'm too loving. These songs are going to change the world".